The invention relates generally to percutaneous delivery systems for tissue shaping devices intended to be delivered through a lumen to a site within a vessel of the patient to modify target tissue adjacent to the vessel. In particular, the invention relates to delivery systems for percutaneous mitral valve annuloplasty devices and methods for using the same.
Tissue shaping devices for treating mitral valve regurgitation have been described. See, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/142,637 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,562), “Body Lumen Device Anchor, Device and Assembly;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/331,143 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,673), “System and Method to Effect the Mitral Valve Annulus of a Heart;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/429,172, “Device and Method for Modifying the Shape of a Body Organ;” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/742,516, “Tissue Shaping Device With Conformable Anchors.” These devices are intended to be delivered percutaneously to a site within a patient's coronary sinus and deployed to reshape the mitral valve annulus adjacent to the coronary sinus.
During deployment of such tissue shaping devices one or more anchors may need to be expanded and locked using actuation forces delivered from outside the patient. Thus, the percutaneous delivery and deployment of tissue shaping devices may require the physician to perform remote operations on the device and on the patient through the device. What is needed, therefore, is a delivery system that permits the physician to perform these tasks.